• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2001

Objectives : To assess the degree of quality improvement (QI) implementation and to identify its associated factors. Methods : A mailed questionnaire survey of the QI staffs at hospitals with 400 beds or more was conducted between September 15 and October 30, 2000. Of the 108 hospitals eligible for inclusion in our study, 79 participated, yielding a response rate of 73.1%. After excluding 12 hospitals that did not perform any QI activities, 117 responses from 67 hospitals were used in our analysis. The degree of QI implementation was measured using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria (MBNQAC). Factors evaluated for association with the degree of QI implementation were cultural, technical, strategic, and structural factors of the hospitals. Results : The average 01 implementation score across the 7 dimensions of MBNQAC was 3.34 on a 5-point scale, with the highest score for the area of customer satisfaction (3.88) followed by information and analysis (3.59) and quality management (3.35). The results of regression analysis showed that hospitals with a ofter information system (p<0.05) and using scientific and systematic problem solving approach (p<0.01) tended to perform a higher degree of QI implementation. While statistically insignificant, positive associations were observed for the factors of group or developmental culture, the degree of employee empowerment, and the use of prospective strategy. Conclusions : It appears that the most important factors contributing to active implementation of QI in Korean hospitals were the use of scientific skills in decision making, and having a quality information system to produce precise and valid information.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-108
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• 2003

The number of companies which use Internet and Web grow at an explosive rate and most of them made use of the Web sites for business activity such as publicity, advertising, customer support, and online retailing. However, there are very few empirical studies on web sites evaluation based on theoretical framework. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate motivational effectiveness of Web sites using the WebMAC Business instrument. In this paper, we introduced a lot of Web sites evaluation studies and several IS studies based on the motivation theory. Web sites evaluation was performed by four motivational factors which include stimulating, meaningful, organized, and easy-to-use. There are significant differences among the industry type about motivational factors. This study identifies areas for improvement of existing Web sites and suggests several guidelines for development of Web sites from the user's perspective.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.49-63
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• 2020

Municipal governments today are facing increasingly complex issues while resources continue to be constraint but the service quality expectation from citizen is more demanding. They must develop and implement tools that help manage operations more efficiently. While Lean Six Sigma principle and tools have been widely applied to profit organizations, the extant literature has not provided many cases of such application to local governments. This research presents a case study of applying Lean Six Sigma approaches and tools to a municipal government of a small town in USA to improve process efficiency, quality performance, and citizen satisfaction. In this case study, DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, and Control) is used as a tool to define current issues, develop, and measure performance metrics, and recommend action plans. The result of this case study shows that applying the principles and tools of Lean Six Sigma provides an excellent way to improve the process efficiency and quality of providing public work services at a local government.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.28-40
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• 2002

For modern man and woman, footwear is considered a fashion for expressing oneself, and not merely a protective tool for the feet. The purpose of this research is to increase the effect of sales promotional activities by emphasizing product image and by enhancing sales environment. Towards this end, this research focuses on the study of environment at footwear stores that meet the challenges incurred by the changing lifestyles of consumers and the ensuing dynamics of the society in general. Research is based on an in-depth, thorough study of the previous research works and entails examining theoretical background and the concept of Visual Merchandising Display (VMD). Research will focus on the analysis of current situation at footwear stores located in department store based on material research on footwear stores and theoretical examination. Research on the current situation of footwear stores at department store will be conducted from the VMD perspective. In the end, this research paper will make suggestions on the VMD measures for footwear stores with the aim of increasing sales by satisfying consumers' sensibility and purchasing desire. Suggestions will be made based on the results of the research. -Study of current VMD status per fixture centered on 18 brands at department store -Suggestions for VMD at footwear stores based on the survey results of customer purchasing behavior This research intends to develop structured VMD methodology for footwear stores based on the research centered on VMD research of footwear stores at department store. Significance of this research lies in its aim to contribute to the sales increase, no matter how trivial it might be. Going a step further, this research work could be considered one of the foundations for defining the role of VMD methodology at footwear stores. Suggested results are as follows. (1) Need to cast away from simple, one-dimensional type of display method at footwear stores and transform into product image oriented VMD (2) Need to highlight product image by fully leveraging props and by developing footwear display methods that are suitable for different types of fixtures (3) Need to stabilize VMD by developing footwear manual that enables efficient management by store operator.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.16-20
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• 2012

Although the technology of breadmaking simply goes through the process of mixing, fermentation, and baking, it is very hard to make a same product every day. The reason is that baking science begins with the very first process of breadmaking which is mixing, and every steps and working environments are so closely connected. The baking science has developed in short time since the theory of fermentation has released. If you check the development of baking technology synthetically, it is consisted of the discovery of nutritional and functional ingredients, the optimization process of new machines, and the maintenance of the quality as fulfilling social demands. Because the baking business is making and selling the product, baking itself is a business, and it has the form that manufacturing and service business coexist. In today's current domestic bakery market, the supply exceeds the demand. Moreover, the concept of bakery itself has been changing from the fixed image of bakery which is selling the bread to the differentiated bakery with others. As we look at the general bakery's trends, it is focused on going back to the basic or traditions, going to the functional, and working with automations. To conclude, the baking has a long history, but it actually has the short history in the technological development. Baking business can be viewed as the simple business, but many factors are related to the business. It has a few basic kinds of products in baking, but it has diverse kinds of products with the base of infinite creativity. Even though it is physically a hard working business, it is also a business that can face with fun. For managing a bakery, finally, the differentiated strategy with other bakery that maximizes the customers' value is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.11
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• pp.149-159
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• 2019

Six sigma is an innovative management movement which provides improved business process by adapting the paradigm and the trend of market and customers. Suitable selection of six sigma project could highly reduce the costs, improve the quality, and enhance the customer satisfaction. There are existing studies on the selection of Six Sigma projects, but few studies have been conducted to select the correct project under an incomplete information environment. The purpose of this study is to propose the application of integrated MCDM techniques for correct project selection under incomplete information. The project selection process of six sigma involves four steps as follows: 1) determination of project selection criteria 2) calculation of relative importance of team member's competencies 3) assessment with project preference scale 4) finalization of ranking the projects. This study proposes the combination methods by applying group fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), an easy defuzzified number of Trapezoidal Fuzzy Number (TrFN) and Grey Relational Analysis (GRA). Both of the weight of project selection criteria and the relative importance of team member's competencies can be evaluated by group fuzzy AHP. Project preferences are assessed by easy defuzzified scale of TrFN in case of incomplete information.)

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

This study aimed to analyze the association among dental care consumers' responses to waiting time, hospital image, and patient satisfaction and provide basic data that could help qualitative waiting conditions management related to health care service. A survey was conducted from May 18 to June 20, 2016 in adults who had spent waiting time at dental hospitals or clinics, and the following conclusion was drawn: Hospital image was associated with the changes in reliance on dental care centers in case of long wait, the changes in reuse intentions, and the reservation system, and patient satisfaction was associated with gender, explanation of expected waiting time, the changes in reliance on dental care centers in case of long wait, the changes in reuse intentions, and the reservation system. The positive responses to waiting time was positively correlated with hospital image and patient satisfaction; the negative reaction to waiting time was negatively correlated with hospital image and patient satisfaction; and hospital image was positively correlated with patient satisfaction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.168-176
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• 2015

Trends of integrating products and services lead to the emergence of Product-Service System (PSS). To implement and embody a PSS solution in new product development, a comprehensive design framework is allowed designers to facilitate the design factors of the PSS in complex business environments. A physical product, containing functionalities for services, is the role of medium between customers and a manufactures. Customers can access those metaphysical interfaces to utilize the product fully or expand its performances. The PSS is aiming to prolong its lifecycle while maintaining its expected quality. Since the quality can be represented as a measure which belongs to user's perspective, guaranteeing certain level of quality can be interpreted to sustaining customer satisfaction. The objective of this paper is to propose a PSS design framework to identify design factors for developing products and services by integrating object-oriented concepts and blueprinting in context of a business ecosystem. The proposed model is developed based on relationship products and services matching with their design factors. The products and the services are then brought together to form a PSS. Functions and processes can be categorized to identify the design factors in different levels using the object-oriented concepts. Objected-oriented concepts provide PSS analysis tools for describing a business process or a workflow process in the PSS. The blueprint is used to identify the relationships between the products functions and the service processes that are offered as part of a job. To demonstrate of the effectiveness of the proposed model, we use a case study involving a smart phone.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.324-338
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• 2021

Background: We hypothesized that the growing demand of Korean workers for work-life balance would change the factors influencing job satisfaction. We sought to verify our hypothesis by conducting a conjoint analysis based on the Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS). Methods: We analyzed the raw data of the KWCS, conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute from 2006 to 2017. To complete the analysis, we counted on a conjoint model of analysis, typically used in the analysis of customer satisfaction. The dependent variable was the satisfaction of workers with their working conditions, and the independent variables were the job quality indicators identified by Eurofound. Results: The factors that have the greatest impact on working conditions satisfaction are summarized as follows: "physical environment" for the first wave, "adverse social behavior" for the second wave, "occupational status" for the third and fourth waves, and "management quality" for the fifth wave. "Earnings" were not a major factor in determining employee job satisfaction, and the relative importance index is decreasing. Conclusion: According to the results of the analysis of the tendencies of Korean workers, the factors that affect the satisfaction with the working conditions have changed over time. It is crucial to identify factors that affect working conditions to assure the health and productivity of workers. The results of this study demonstrate that policymakers and employers are required to attentively consider human relations and social environment at work to improve working conditions in the future.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2021

In a contact-free society, online services are becoming more important than classic offline services. At the same time, the role of a contact center, which executes customer relation management (CRM), is increasingly essential. For supporting the CRM tasks and their effectiveness, techniques of process automation need to be applied. Quality assurance (QA) is one of the time and resource consuming, and typical processes that are suitable for automation. In this paper, a method of automatic quality evaluation for voice based consultations is proposed. Firstly, the speech in consultations is transformed into a text by speech recognition. Then quantitative evaluation based on the QA metrics, including checking the elements in opening and closing mention, the existence of asking the mandatory information, the attitude of listening and speaking, is executed. 92.7% of the automated evaluations are the same to the result done by human experts. It was found that the non matching cases of the automated evaluations were mainly caused from the mistranslated Speech-to-Text (STT) result. With the confidence of STT result, this proposed method can be employed for enhancing the efficiency of QA process in contact centers.